Linguistic representations of PWA and Alzheimer's disease in the film "Still Alice"

Julia Niehaus

• Publisher: GRIN Verlag
• Year: 2023
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9783346930613
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Seminar paper from the year 2020 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,0, University of Duisburg-Essen (Anglophone Studies), course: As words fail- Linguistic perspectives on Alzheimer's discourse, language: English, abstract: In the first half of this paper, one is presented with the theoretical background of Alzheimer's disease. The different stages of Alzheimer's disease, its connection between language and the brain and the specific language impairments specifically connected to Alzheimer's disease, are examined, and portrayed. Firstly, it is important to briefly outline what Alzheimer's disease is and how it can be diagnosed and treated. After this, the second step is establishing the different stages of the disease, as this helps linking certain symptoms to the progress and status of the illness and analyzing whether the representation is accurate or not. Then, language and the Alzheimer's brain are closer investigated and portrayed, as this is crucial to understanding how linguistic impairment is even linked to Alzheimer's and how the symptoms arise over the course of the illness. Lastly, the different language impairments will be outlined, and their symptoms will be examined further. All the chapter of the first part of the paper form the theoretical basis that is not only necessary for the ability to recognize linguistic representations of Alzheimer's disease in the film in the first place, but also for the ability to analyze and draw conclusions about those representations in a broader, theoretical context. They build the framework for the analysis and the conclusions drawn later on in this paper and therefore are crucial as they are continuously referred to later on. The second part of this paper then specifically uses the previously attained knowledge and analyzes in how far and in what way it is represented in the film "Still Alice". Firstly, the movie and its plot are briefly explained and displayed, so that the following chapters are not left without context and to give more context on the setting and circumstances of the subject of analysis. After this, data is collected by watching the film, reading the script and parallel to this examining the prevalence of the represented linguistic symptoms in each of the three parts of the film "Still Alice". This is a qualitative approach to data collection and is based on a certain list of symptoms that are counted throughout this process.